Roman Catholic Diocese of Angoulême

Diocese of Angoulême
Dioecesis Engolismensis
Diocèse d'Angoulême

Location
Country France
Ecclesiastical province Poitiers
Metropolitan Archdiocese of Poitiers
Statistics
Area 5,972 km2 (2,306 sq mi)
Population
- Total
- Catholics		 (as of 2012)
352,110
264,000 (75%)
Parishes 88
Information
Denomination Roman Catholic
Rite Roman Rite
Established 3rd Century
Cathedral Cathedral of St Peter in Angoulême
Patron saint Saint Ausonius of Angoulême
Saint Cybard
Current leadership
Pope Francis
Bishop Claude Dagens
Metropolitan Archbishop Pascal Wintzer
Emeritus Bishops Georges Rol Bishop Emeritus (1975-1993)
Website
Website of the Diocese

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Angoulême is a diocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic church in France. Originally erected in the 3rd century, the episcopal see is the Angoulême Cathedral. Comprising the département of the Charente, the diocese has always been suffragan to the Archbishopric of Bordeaux, under the old régime as well as under the Concordat.

History

Its first bishop was Ausonius, a disciple, it is said, of St. Martial, concerning whom we have two historical authorities: St. Gregory of Tours, who held that St. Martial preached the gospel in Limoges about the year 250, and the Limousin traditions, transmitted or invented by the chronicler Adhémar de Chabannes, who maintained that St. Martial was the immediate disciple of St. Peter. According to the latter opinion St. Ausonius was a bishop of the first century; according to the former, of the third century. At least one modern historian believes it likely that Ausonius lived even later, in the 4th century.[1]

St. Salvius, honoured as a martyr at Valenciennes, whom the Gallia Christiana makes a Bishop of Angoulême, was undoubtedly only a missionary bishop of the eighth century. In the list of the Bishops of Angoulême is found the name of the poet Octavien de St. Gelais (1494–1502).

The religious monuments of the province of Angoumois are remarkable for their admirable Romano-Byzantine façades. The most beautiful of them is St. Peter's Cathedral at Angoulême. The memory of a wealthy and famous Augustinian abbey, founded in 1122, is kept alive by its ruins at Couronne, near Angoulême.

In 1236, the Jewish community of Angouleme, along with those in Anjou, Poitou, and Bordeaux, was attacked by crusaders. 500 Jews from these communities chose conversion and over 3000 were massacred. Pope Gregory IX, who originally had called the crusade, was outraged about this brutality and criticized the clergy of the diocese of angouleme for not preventing it.[2]

Ordinaries

Notes

  1. 1 2 Favreau, 9.
  2. ↑ http://ecc.pima.edu/~jmills/Austria/7-9_Grade_Review_Activity_Medieval_Austria_1236-1328.pdf
  3. 1 2 Favreau, 10.
  4. ↑ Favreau, 10–11.
  5. ↑ Favreau, 11.
  6. ↑ Favreau, 11–12.
  7. ↑ Favreau, 12.
  8. ↑ Favreau, 12–13.
  9. 1 2 Favreau, 13.
  10. ↑ Favreau, 14.
  11. 1 2 Favreau, 14–15.
  12. ↑ Some lists note a Landebertus and Saint Salvius as bishops in the 8th century. Landebertus is only found as having attended a council at Narbonne in 788, but this is apocryphal. Traditionally celebrated as a bishop of Angoulême, Saint Sauve is found on some later lists, but his vita was written soon after his death and makes no mention of Angoulême. Favreau, 14.
  13. ↑ Favreau, 14–15, also notes a Bishop Autbertus in 844, but he only appears in the Chronicle of Saint-Maixent, which is probably derived from a spurious charter. His existence is therefore doubtful.
  14. ↑ Favreau, 16.
  15. ↑ A bishop Girbaldus is noted in the Annales Engolismenses (MGH SS, 4:5 and 16:486) as dying in 864, but he is not attested to in any other document and Helias attended a church council in 862. Favreau, 16–17.
  16. ↑ Favreau, 17. However, Oliba may have been bishop as early as 869, as Helias is last seen at the council of Vermery in 869. Debord, 93.
  17. ↑ Favreau, 17.
  18. ↑ A bishop Godalbert, who would have been bishop between Anatolius and Gombaud, is found on a twelfth-century episcopal list which does not include his date of death (while it does for surrounding bishops). Puybaudet, "Une liste épiscopale d’Angoulême," 282. Not attested to in any other document, Favreau rejects his existence, noting that his name might have been confused with Gumbaldus (Gombaud's name in Latin), especially since Gombaud was called "Gundaberto" in the Chronicle of Saint-Maixent Favreau, 18.
  19. ↑ Favreau, 18.
  20. 1 2 Favreau, 19.
  21. ↑ Favreau, 19–20.
  22. ↑ Favreau, 21–22.
  23. ↑ Roho may have become bishop as early as 1018, but is only attested to in 1020. Favreau, 22–23.
  24. ↑ Favreau, 24.
  25. ↑ Favreau, 24–26.
  26. ↑ Favreau, 26–28.
  27. ↑ Favreau, 28–33.
  28. ↑ Favreau, 33–35.
  29. ↑ Favreau, 35–37.
  30. ↑ Elected in 1159, consecrated in 1160. Favreau, 37–39.
  31. ↑ Elected in 1181, consecrated in 1182. Favreau, 39–40.
  32. ↑ Piveteau, 122.
  33. ↑ Piveteau, 122–23.
  34. ↑ Piveteau, 125–28.
  35. ↑ Piveteau, 123–24.
  36. ↑ Elected in 1252, consecrated in 1253. Piveteau, 128.
  37. 1 2 Piveteau, 124–25.
  38. ↑ Elected on October 12, 1273 and consecrated January 15 of the following year. Piveteau, 130–33.
  39. ↑ Piveteau, 133–34.
  40. ↑ Piveteau, 134.
  41. ↑ Piveteau, 135.
  42. ↑ Piveteau, 136.
  43. ↑ Piveteau, 135–39.
  44. ↑ Piveteau, 137.
  45. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 "Diocese of Angoulême". Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved 21 January 2015.

Sources

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton. 

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